The connection between the Poggioreale and Capodichino stations of metro line 1 has been completed. This morning, the TBM boring machine, which carried out the excavation underground, also broke through the last diaphragm between the two tunnels that make up the route along which the metro trains will travel. The breakthrough, which effectively marked the completion of the Centro Direzionale Napoli–Capodichino section, was witnessed by Mayor Gaetano Manfredi and the Infrastructure and Mobility Councilor Edoardo Cosenza.
The project for the two tunnels connecting the Poggioreale and Capodichino stations - each about a thousand meters long and with a circular section of 6 meters and 80 centimeters - was drafted by the Naples Metro, the concessionaire for the design and construction of line 1, and by the Milan Metro. The execution of the works was entrusted by the Naples Metro to the Integra Consortium - Sinergo Spa.
The first tunnel was completed in March 2021. The TBM was then dismantled at Poggioreale and transferred to Capodichino where it was reassembled to proceed with the excavation of the second tunnel. This phase of the intervention, which began in July 2021, experienced a setback due to the landslide that occurred in the Poggioreale cemetery on January 5, 2022, when 120 meters of excavation were still missing. The suspension lasted until last December.
With the resumption of work and based on thorough geotechnical investigations, consolidation works were also carried out through injections, aimed at improving the geomechanical characteristics of the soils.
"The metro construction site - commented Mayor Manfredi - is proceeding very quickly. We hope that by 2026 the metro can reach Capodichino airport. This work is the result of great institutional collaboration and a great job done by qualified companies: a significant effort to ensure that Naples is increasingly equipped with a high-level rail transport system, typical of a large city, that serves both citizens and the many visitors".
"The completion of the second access tunnel to the Poggioreale station will enable train circulation between the Tribunale and Capodichino stops, accelerating the commissioning of the last section of line 1".
This was stated by Prof. Paolo Carbone, president of Metropolitana di Napoli s.p.a.
"This is a significant result, achieved with the realization of particularly complex consolidation works from an engineering point of view and the use of mechanized excavation with TBM: this was made possible thanks to the close collaboration with the City of Naples to overcome the difficulties of the last months".